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Queer life under Erdoğan

July 8, 2024

Today, Pembe Özkan lives in Turkey. Before that she’d lived almost her entire life in Germany, where she came out and married a woman.

https://p.dw.com/p/4hxVE

After divorcing her wife, Pembe returned to her home country. Now, she lives in İzmir, known as the most liberal-minded city in Turkey. That has made it something of a magnet for gay men and women, trans people and anyone else who wishes to pursue a lifestyle different from the one Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan envisions for Turkey’s people. We meet up with Pembe, who now has to brave the repressive atmosphere in Turkey.

A Report by Almut Röhrl and Simone Heyder

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